Chapter Thirty Five

Carlisle

It was evident the moment I injected the "cure" into Charlie's arm that something was terribly wrong. He went rigid for a moment then arched his back so fiercely that I feared he might snap his neck or spine, only his heels and the back of his head remained touching the surface of the trolley and then he began to scream and thrash about falling to the floor with a sickening thud. I looked on horrified as the door crashed open and Esme appeared with Athenadora, both looking horrified at the body twisting and clutching at itself on the floor before them. As Charlie began to tear at his flesh as if wanting to rip it from his body Aro grabbed hold of me and dragged me through into his study followed by the women, Athena having taken charge of Esme who would have fallen to her knees besides the screaming and bloodied form that had been Bella's father.

"What happened? What did you do to him?"

Esme's voice was frantic and accusatory only just audible over the screams from the other room which mercifully quietened as Athena closed the study door.

"The cure, it wasn't a cure at all. You lied to me Aro just to get me here. Why?"

"You said it yourself old friend, to get you here, I missed you and the cure may have worked, I never guaranteed it although I am curious as to what it is doing to our subject."

"Subject? That's a living person out there Aro, going through the fires of hell it would seem and you are just curious? You're a monster."

"Carlisle, I think you are being a little melodramatic. True the cure didn't work as we expected but you have no way of knowing just what is going on. Becoming a vampire is painful as you know only too well so perhaps this is just the cure working its wonder."

I looked at the man I had considered a friend once upon a time but now all I saw was the monster inside. Aro had never made any secret of his disdain for humans and his amusement at me for caring about them but this? I felt sick to my stomach.

"Is there nothing you can do Carlisle? We can't leave Charlie like that, listen, you can still hear his suffering through this heavy door."

Athena was staring accusingly at Aro,

"You never expected it to work did you Aro? You just like torturing things weaker than yourself. I blame this place and the centuries. They have warped your perspective, corrupted not only you but Caius too, death and torture mean nothing to you, you revel in it. I hate you and everything you stand for."

I was shocked to hear this, what had happened to Corin making everyone happy and Chelsea making them compliant?

Before Aro could answer we noticed that silence had fallen in the outer chamber, was Charlie dead? Or had something even worse befallen him as a result of that damned potion? Esme wrenched the door open and we burst in only to see Charlie writhing but now in silence with Jasper and Bella kneeling over him. Standing a little to one side, both ready for action watching the doors warily were Jasper's friend Peter and another who looked vaguely familiar.

Aro was furious, it seemed Esme was right, he was angry mainly because his experiment had been ruined by Jasper who had seemingly bitten Charlie, did he really think that would work after I had discarded it as too dangerous. Too dangerous? That was ironic as I had almost certainly killed him with Aro's accursed "cure". Was it possible Jasper had been the one to save him yet again? I felt a fool, an old and extremely egotistical fool thinking no one but the Volturi could help me with this when all they had done was to make things so much worse.

"Well, well, Darius, you decided on a revisit? Rather foolish of you but I'm sure Caius will be only too pleased to rid himself of his own personal bogeyman. You have certainly kept him a prisoner here long enough. Tired of life without your sweet Sara? I don't blame you, life must have been torture over the years."

So the other man was Darius, I thought I had been mistaken, it was suicidal to come here with Caius having the whole of the Volturi guard to aid him, so why had he done it?

Darius merely smiled as Jasper lifted Bella to her feet and walked her away from her father and into the corridor not waiting to see if we would follow him. We did so, after all there was little anyone could do for Charlie now. If he were becoming a vampire then we had a lengthy wait which would be dangerous enough here among the Volturi and if he were dying….well, there was still nothing I could do to help and at least he was now quiet although that in itself was eerie and unnatural.

We gathered together in the corridor and Aro whirled on Darius.

"Just how did you get in without being challenged? I doubt the same route will be available to you for your escape."

Darius smiled widely,

"Oh I don't know Aro, I might just surprise you. I guess you'd like to give Caius a call, tell him I'm here? Be my guest."

"He'll know soon enough, the guard will have heard the disturbance and will be on their way here as we speak."

Athena looked concerned,

"Go Darius please, before my husband arrives. You don't stand a chance, not when he can call on the guard for help and you know he will if he thinks you might beat him in a fair fight."

"Oh, I doubt he needs to think about that for long Athenadora. He stands no chance, playing fair or foul. Let him come, his time is rapidly coming to an end so you might want to say goodbye."

There was a terrible crashing noise from within the chamber and Bella moved towards the entrance but before she could open it the heavy wooden doors crashed against the wall tearing them from their hinges and showering everyone in dust from the crushed and flaking stone. Was this Caius come to kill his nemesis? I hadn't expected him to arrive from that direction, through the chamber, it seemed an odd way to make his presence known but then he had always been theatrical, it fed his enormous ego.

Bella gasped,

"Dad?"

Through the opening strode an extremely dangerous looking Charlie. Jasper's bite had woken him from whatever had been going on in his body and his red eyes gleamed with malice as they locked onto Aro who tried to back away while calling for the guard who came running. Peter, Darius and Jasper stood blocking their way although Jane and Alec were not far behind and no one could stand against their gifts.

"Ah, Bella. Looks like we're gonna need you….like now."

She turned away from Charlie reluctantly at Peter's comment and moved to stand with the guys while I couldn't take my eyes from her father. His face worked as the rage grew in him, the unstoppable rage of a newborn and I knowing how unpredictable they could be grabbed Esme, pushing her behind me. My action caught Charlie's attention for a second and Aro moved in swiftly for the kill.

I thought Charlie was dead for real this time, Aro may be centuries old but he was ruthless and cunning. As he reached for Charlie calling for Jane to join him Charlie stepped into his embrace and they crashed to the floor raising another cloud of dust that almost obscured them for a moment and then I heard it, a terrible, weak, terrified scream that was cut off abruptly and Aro sank back to the floor in an untidy heap while Charlie stood looking somewhat confused and to my relief a lot less agitated.

"What happened? I hardly touched him and he collapsed. I wanted to tear the bastard limb from limb but he just went limp whimpering like that."

Jane and the other guards made the fatal mistake at that moment of attempting to move forward catching Charlie's attention and he attacked, or at least he tried to but something restrained him just as it was keeping the Volturi at bay and then they dropped as Darius shouted for Bella to stand down. It appeared he had seen or knew something I had not.